Seemingly Obligatory But Oddly Apolitical Post on the Marriage Debate

I found the following quote from potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, independent of one's thoughts on the marriage debate, quite disturbing.

(Potential presidential candidate Mike) Huckabee said in 2004 that allowing gay marriages is allowing "lawlessness." "That's my major concern, that we've just got a whole bunch of folks out there that want to make up their own laws," he said. Later that year, [he] said marriage "cannot be redefined to be something that culture wants it to be." [Red State]

I think they call groups of people coming together to develop laws democracy. Ideally speaking, this is the basis of our government. Independent of the universal overarching concepts of human rights (such as individual determination and pursuit of happiness), state sanctioned marriage is a legal construct, with legal benefits as well as penalties, and in a democracy, the legal construction can be changed to conform to the will of the people. As such, Huckabee's statement makes no sense. I think Mr. Huckabee was trying, but failed, to make the argument that Bill Frist made recently.

(Bill Frist stated) that the "American people deserve a full debate on this foundational issue before marriage is redefined for everyone" and said he wants to "ensure the definition of marriage endures and remains true to the wishes of the majority of the American people." [RedState]

Again, independent of human rights issues and the obvious political angle, at least this statement is coherent and compatible with the intended out working of a representative democratic process. So, in terms of potential Republican presidential nominees understanding how our government is suppose to work Frist 1, Huckabee 0.